This invention relates to interactive television program guides, and more particularly, to television program guides that provide programming categories or themes that are combinations of individual categories, and in which users may select particular subsets of programming toy category or theme.
Cable, satellites, and broadcast television systems provide users with a large number of television channels. Users have traditionally consulted printed television program schedules to determine the programs being broadcast at a particular time. More recently, interactive electronic television program guides have been developed that allow television program information to be displayed on a user's television.
Interactive program guides are typically implemented on set-top boxes. Such program guides allow users to view television program listings in different display formats. For example, a user may instruct the program guide to display a grid or table of program listings organized in a channel-ordered or a time-ordered list. Users may also search and sort program listings by category (e.g., movies, sports, etc.) or by title (i.e., alphabetically).
Because there are so many television channels available, particularly with cable and satellite television systems, television program guides have been developed that allow users to select favorite channels. During tuning, the program guide may allow the user to tune to favorite channels only, while skipping all other channels. Alternatively, a display screen containing program listings may be organized in a way that reflects which channels are favorites. For example, a table of program listings may contain only favorite channels and all other channels may be suppressed from view. According to another approach, program listings for all channels are displayed. However, when the user scans through the table of program listings, the cursor control, which highlights a program and allows the user to make a selection, will advance among the favorite channels and skip over the other channels.
Another approach for assisting the user in selecting among the television channels available is to allow users to search for program listings in categories (sometimes referred to as genres or themes). With this approach the user cannot narrow the search beyond, that of the standard categories (e.g., sports, comedies, etc.).
Other program guides allow the user to perform searches based on multiple categories, but this requires that the user select each category and then initiate the search, which may be a cumbersome process.
Some program guides address this abundance of information by having hierarchical categories. First, the user is presented with a relatively short list of higher-level or more general categories. Typical higher-level categories include movies, sports, or series programs. After the user selects a higher-level category, the program guide displays a list of subcategories, such as comedy, action, or baseball, from which the user may select one or more subcategories. This process may continue through several levels of subcategorization. While the list of categories at each level may be relatively short and easier to view and comprehend, a drawback is that the user may not readily appreciate which high-level category will lead to a desired specific category at a lower level. The user may be required to enter multiple keystrokes to find the desired category.
After tediously setting up a multiple category search or navigating a complex hierarchical menu, the user may eventually locate a desired category only to discover that there are no program listings for that category. Moreover, the user must repeat this process whenever searching for program listings involving a new category.
What is needed is a more sophisticated, way in which a program guide can handle programming categories.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an interactive television program guide system in which more specific programming categories may be generated.
It is also an object of the invention to provide program listings that may be displayed and searched according to programming categories that are more reflective of a user's interests.